FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A new COVID-19 vaccination location went up Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale.
Snyder Park has been transformed into a vaccination site after traffic congestion near Holiday Park made that site no longer feasible.
“Snyder Park is a little more remote from downtown, but it offers a bigger driveway so we can get more cars in on the property here than we could at Holiday Park,” said Jeff Lucas, Deputy Fire Chief for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.
Snyder Park is also bigger and will have more vaccination stations, with dozens of nurses inoculating those 65 and older who have an appointment.
“Holiday Park had 10 stations so this station will have 15 stations,” said Lucas “We will have a total of 40 nurses working at all times here between the hours of eight and four to make sure everybody who has an appointment for a vaccine gets one.”
Drivers waited in long lines Tuesday at Snyder Park to receive the vaccine. The Florida Department of Health is providing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to senior citizens and frontline healthcare workers by appointment only.
“The only obstacles we have is the fact that a lot of people are trying to cut into the line and it’s adding a significant number of cars and they’re being turned away,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said.
Trantalis said the health department moved the vaccination site from Holiday Park to Snyder Park in part because it was causing a traffic jam with drivers lining up on Federal Highway and the downtown area.
But this new site has problems as well.
“A lot of people are trying to sneak in,” the mayor said. “A lot of people are coming from outside the area, other countries, other states, other counties who don’t have an appointment and, unfortunately, we’re not able to accommodate them.”
The mayor said staff members will be injecting 500 people each day, but that number will go up because of people returning for their second doses.
The Holiday Park site is no longer providing vaccines. Those who received their first shot at Holiday Park will need to visit Snyder Park for the second dose, using the date on the back of the card given at the time of the first shot.
Broward County currently has several vaccine sites open and plans to open at least three more, however, Broward County Mayor Steve Geller said that has been put on hold now because they don’t have as much supply as they thought the state would get.
Senior citizens and frontline healthcare workers who wish to make an appointment at the current sites can call 866-201-6313.